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 To run a Lovecraftian Sword & Sorcery adventure in Castles & Crusades, lean heavily into cosmic dread, decaying sorcery, alien geometry, and sanity-draining horrors. Use the D100 Random Encounter Table below to stock wilderness travels, subterranean crawls, or city ruins with eldritch threats.D100 Sword & Sorcery Lovecraftian Encounter Tabled100Encounter Description01–04The Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Get a first look at GAMBIT: GONE, the five-issue series by Steve Orlando, Edoardo Audino and Gerado Sandoval spinning out of X-MEN OF APOCALYPSE, on sale September 23. New York,…

This third spin-off miniseries will explore haunting past, foreboding future of The Golden Masked Killer PORTLAND, Ore. 08/21/2026 — Eisner Award winning writer Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian, Absolute Green Arrow)…

PORTLAND, Ore. 08/21/2026 — From Rick Remender (Hammerfist, Fear Agent, Escape) and Eric Nguyen (Strange Girl) comes an over-the-top, action-packed collected edition of Gigantic: The Complete Series. This trade paperback collects…

Nearly 25 Years Into His Career, Award-Winning Cartoonist Scott Chantler Takes On a Major Licensed Character for the First Time with a Two-Volume, Standalone Story Rooted in the Original Flash…

MOMO-TONE VARIANT COVERS, a new cover collection by Peach Momoko, debuts in November. New York, NY— August 21, 2026 —Peach Momoko continues to redefine her artistry! This November, the visionary…

Big Finish is reprinting the classic Radio Times Doctor Who Anniversary Specials in new hardback editions

 

Doctor Who fans may well know Big Finish best for their long running series of audio dramas. But this November they’ll be adding to their line of occasional book releases with two special hardback volumes. These books will reprint the classic Radio Times Doctor Who 10th Anniversary and 20th Anniversary Specials. Both are newly restorations that better than ever before.

The specials are packed with features, including interviews with Doctor Who actors and creatives, as well as original fiction by Daleks creator Terry Nation and series script editor Eric Saward.  There are also episode guides (including some charmingly inaccurate details based on the best research at the time.) Plus, you’ll find profiles of the Doctors, companions, and behind the scenes crew. The new editions promise to be a perfect slice of nostalgia for classic fans. They’ll also provide an eye opening look into the past for newer ones.

 

“These two books will become essential works in any Doctor Who library”

Big Finish senior producer John Ainsworth said: “The 10th anniversary and 20th anniversary Radio Times specials were unique publications, marking Doctor Who‘s first two significant anniversaries. Both offered insights into the series and its history, and became treasured, well-thumbed reference works by all who bought them.

“The original publications are now rare to find, and,due to their magazine format, even rarer to find in good condition. So, it’s particularly exciting that Big Finish now has the opportunity to publish, for the first time, exact replicas of both these specials, in hardback volumes.  

“Painstaking work has been carried out to restore photographs, and to make these specials accurate in every detail, replicating the original publications. These two books will become essential works in any Doctor Who library.” 

The Radio Times Doctor Who 10th and 20th Anniversary Specials are now available to pre-order for £25 each, or £45 for a multi-buy bundle of the two books, exclusively here. 

You can purchase the 10th Anniversary Special here, and the 20th Anniversary Special here.

The post Big Finish Reprinting Classic Radio Times Doctor Who Specials appeared first on Blogtor Who.

Bitcoin’s rebound toward $72,500 is gaining momentum, with Geoff Kendrick pointing to improving liquidity conditions and suggesting that the market may have already found a bottom. Standard Chartered analyst Geoff…

Everyone’s favorite Brooklyn witch is back! Sophie Escabasse’s beloved graphic novel series, Witches of Brooklyn, returns with the final book, S’WITCH BACK, on sale 9/1. Perfect for readers who love the Katie…

The Great Marc Evers The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds Author: Ivo van Woerden, Artist: Gemma Plum, Colourist: Marloes Dekkers Translator: Michele Hutchison Hardback / 192 pages / Colour / ISBN: 978-1-914224-51-5 Price: UK £22.99/…

LYNX #9 When the ruthless El Ratónez kidnaps Saven Guthrie, his desperate family turns to the only crew crazy enough to take the job. Because when you’ve got a problem……

The first issue of Batman Comics I ever bought, as opposed to Detective Comics, was 132 (June 1960). I was already familiar with Batman, having purchased Detective Comics 277 (March…

Art by Gary Gianni. Check out all those polearms!
While my Greyhawk series of posts are all just sort of pseudo-encyclopedia entry sort of stuff, they are informed by a certain conception of Greyhawk, at least. I thought it was worth taking a post to outline the works that inform the way I'm presenting and interpreting what I read in the 1980 folio, and other "primary sources." 

As I mentioned, initially thinking of Greyhawk as a more firmly Medieval place was the impetus for this series, but as these things tend to do, my approach has drifted some with time. While my view remains more realistically Medieval elements are nice to bring in, I also don't want to lose site of the Gygaxian Implied Setting Recipe, because at the end of the day, a Greyhawk that feels like Greyhawk (if more rationalized) is more interesting to me than a straight pseudo-history.

Fiction:
Anderson, Poul. The Broken Sword — Fantasy in a historical setting with some science fictional rationalization.
Buehlman, Christopher. Between Two Fires, The Blacktongue Thief  — The first is a horror/fantasy novel in a Medieval setting, full of horrific monsters and historic detail. The latter is a secondary world fantasy in a world with interesting cultural detail and humor.
DeCamp, L. Sprague. The Reluctant King — Humorous fantasy with good worldbuilding. I've opined before about the relationship between De Camp and Gygax.
Chabon, Michael. Gentlemen of the Road — A historical adventuring duo, highlighting some less discussed areas of history like the Khazar Khaganate.Howard, Robert E. Conan series, various historical adventure stories. — Pulpy historic adventure or pseudo-historic adventure, with a sweep of history element. "The Hyborian Age" essay seems to have been a strong influence on Greyhawk's presentation.
Jókai, Mór. Told by the Death's Head — Picaresque adventure.
Leiber, Fritz. Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories — Picaresque-inspired fantasy with the archetypal fantasy city and active gods.
Potocki, Jan. Manuscript Found in the Saragossa  — Stories within stories that mix Gothic, picaresque, and a bit of secret history.
Smith, Clark Ashton. Averoigne stories — Pulpy pseudohistorical fantasy with a lot of atmosphere, humor.

Art by Marie & John Severin
The nonfiction is perhaps less definitive, but it has provided some inspiration to me in the course of the posts I've written so far.
Nonfiction:Armstrong, Dorsey. Powerful Women of the Medieval World (Great Courses) — Vignettes on the lives of some figures of the Middle Ages.Bale, Anthony. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages — A fairly light, but informative series of examines of the stories of various travelers in the Middle Ages.Devereaux, Bret. "Practical Polytheism," blog series  — A great read on how real polytheism worked.Gies, Francis and Gies, Joseph. Life in a Medieval City — Street level (literally) view of life in the city of Troyes in 1250 CE.Haywood, John. Historical Atlas of the Medieval World — Just the one I happened to have at home.Hoffman-Becking, Dirk. History of the Germans (Podcast) — I particularly found this inspiring regarding the Great Kingdom.Muesse, Mark W. Great World Religions: Hindusim (Great Courses) — useful inspiration for the thinking about the religions of Oerth.Various. Osprey Publishing military books — mostly for the pictures of armors and armor of various cultures/eras.

Welcome to Day 21 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Charity (Prompt) + Instinct (Weekly Modifier) + Loving & Giving (Weekly Modifier) + Science Fiction and Space Opera (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC.

Rector Augun Colrin (Fantasy Name Generators used: Honorific generator, Futuristic name generator, and Space colony/station name generator)

Rector Colrin is one of the Deputy Directors of the Galactic Charity Bureau (GCB), overseeing the Loving & Giving Program in the Epitome System. His responsibilities encompass government support for housing, health, sustenance, and offspring support. The GCB was originally named the Galactic Citizen Services Bureau and was conceived to maintain the well-being and quality of life of a growing galactic population, ensuring everyone benefited from the achievements of a multi-planet governing body. However, after the commerce sector reorganized the galactic government, the Bureau’s mission was drastically reconceived.

At the onset of this galactic reorganization, Augun Colrin was a mid-level commercial bureaucrat—ambitious but lacking in power and influence. He did possess a keen political instinct. He knew that in the vast new bureaucracy, true power would not rest with generals or governors, but with those who controlled the populace’s purse strings.

As populations across the galaxy were taxed to support the GCB, benefits were systematically curtailed. The Bureau’s programs were weaponized to dictate where people could live, provide subpar health services and food, and reassign children to priority off-planet labor. Effectively, the citizens of the galaxy were turned into indentured servants feeding the machinery of galactic business.

Rector Augun Colrin has grown rich, powerful, and complacent in his role—a position he has held for centuries thanks to anti-aging serums and gene-modification treatments. He knows that while others rule Epitome in name, he truly controls the people of the System. But he is concerned. The ferment of revolt has taken hold among fringe elements of society, who scheme, plot, and attack the authorities. While others in the administration violently oppose the insurrection, Colrin follows his instincts and plans to flush them out by restricting access to food, water, and essential services. His brand of loving charity will pull the weeds by their roots and save his stilted, sterile garden.

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

 

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 As I previously mentioned, Cairn arrives at the end of spring, so we’ll make things easy and say it’s the first day of summer. It’s about 60 miles from Stonehold (where Cairn is from) to Daggerford, but that’s assuming a straight line. I would think that the primary road would head west from Stonehold to the river, and then follow the river north, crossing at some point to get to Daggerford. I would assume there are several villages and small keeps along the river where the caravan would stop to barter for a day or two - probably stopped ten times, so two days of rest and one day of travel would be thirty days since he left Stonehold. Paid a silver a day for guard duty would put him at the 3 gold he has in pocket, so that all lines up.

I’m going to say that Daggerford is a walled town of about 100 buildings and about 1,200 people. The people are exceedingly superstitious and gossipy. Daggerford was a small fishing village until 70 years ago when the survivors of Trasik arrived, and the village blossomed into a town virtually overnight. The majority of structures are less than 70 years old, but the roughly two dozen older structures stand out in contrast with the newer buildings.   

I had actually written up a bit of information on Daggerford already, so I made a few minor edits to that, but it gives me a foundation to work from. 

The first stop is the tavern. Cairn will spend 1 gold there to get some food and drink, and to see if he can get some information about Trasik (at a minimum) and his uncle (if he gets really lucky).

What is up with Trasik? I guess the first thing to determine is who lived there, and then what happened to it that it’s in ruins… 

Was it humans? Likely. 8. Yes.

Was the purpose of the city mining? Possible. 6. Yes.

Copper mines? 7. No.

Iron? 9. No.

Salt? 3. Yes.

The Salt Mines of Trasik. Has a nice ring to it. 

What happened? 

Dragon Attack? 9. No.

Humanoid Siege? 11. No.

Evil Awakened? 10. No.

Combined event? 3. Yes.

So, the mines started to tap out of salt, deeper excavations opened a portal to the Vale of Eternal Winters, allowing wintry beasts to come through and ravage the town, sending the survivors fleeing. It was rumored that the more powerful salt guilds of the town had amassed great wealth that was lost or left behind, and may still be in these ruins. The town is now enveloped in an unending winter.

Let’s see how much of this Cairn learns. It’s a Mind check (yuck). He gets +1 edge from the gold he spent. I roll a 10 and an 8. Success! He basically learns everything I’ve written above. It is unlikely he also is able to get information about his uncle; I roll a natural 1!

Well then. It turns out that his uncle had made the Blind Basilisk his base of operations, and had reserved a room there permanently (paying 1,000 gold to reserve it ‘for 99 years’). He had made a half dozen successful forays to the ruins until two years ago when he stopped returning. The innkeeper allows him to use the room (since he has provided sufficient evidence that he is the nephew - and he assumes that the uncle is dead at this point).

I’m going to say that the room has a level 2 treasure left therein… I roll terribly, but still decide there must be at least one instance of treasure. There are three things in the chest: 14 gold, a key, and a journal that is written entirely in the dwarven tongue.  I have him trade in his light hammer (gets 1 gold) and buy a medium hammer 4 (8 gold), leaving him with 9 gold. It is likely (if not very likely) that the key is to a chest that the uncle has hidden (containing his actual wealth), and this money was just pocket change he left here. If Cairn trades in his leather armor (getting 2.5 gold), he has enough to buy a ringmail shirt (leaving him with 1 gold and 5 silver). He does all this.

Cairn Torvinson of Clan Thunderforge, Jovial Dwarf Myrmidon 1

Armor 2; Hits 12; Move 60’; Hammer (5) and Shield (2)

Might 4; Mind 1; Reflex 1

Brawler; Fortitude; Two Weapons; Warrior

Ringmail Armor 2; Shield; War Hammer 4; 1 gold, 5 silver

He attacks at +2 with melee weapons, and deals +1 damage. He attacks with both hammer and shield each round. The shield grants +1 edge to armor checks.

The Journal…

I’m going to roll D12 to see how much awesome stuff is in the journal. On a 1, it is mostly personal entries about how he’s feeling, general “I destroyed three skeletons today” entries, and reflections on food or the people of Daggerford. With a 12, there are detailed maps of the ruined town, notes about caverns under the town he has explored, and with a natural 12 details on where he has hidden the chest. 

Dang. I roll a natural 12. Alright then! 

• He learns that Toren had buried the chest at the back of a cave on the opposite side of the river, about a mile upstream. He has a drawing of what the cave looks like. The journal implies that the key is for the chest.

• Toren had found a gap in the north wall of Trasik, and used this to venture in and out of the ruins.

• He had a lair in Trasik - he found a house with a hidden cellar, and used the cellar as a place to rest and recover. He had taken extra measures to hide the cellar entrance, and in the several months the journal covers, he had made dozens of forays into the town.

• His most recent entries were about the ‘frozen portal’, and how he had discovered a way past it. His final entry suggests he was attempting to get through the portal.

MooglyCAL2026 Block 17 puts a unique twist on things, courtesy of Pink Mambo! Carolyn designed the amazing Metaphor Square for us, and it's intriguingly unique! Get all the details for this free crochet along, and the free pattern link below! Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links; materials provided by Local Crafts. Just getting started with […]

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Welcome to Day 20 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Promise (Prompt) + Instinct (Weekly Modifier) + Far to Go (Weekly Modifier) + Horror (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC.

Lydia Politoti, Esq. (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Greek name generator)

In a world where myths and unimaginable horrors are real and lurk in the shadows, those who discover these secrets are often overwhelmed and left at the mercy of powers they don’t understand. Facing the unknown can be daunting, and even if you manage to confront the terrors, making sure a being of inconceivable power keeps its word not to destroy you in your sleep may seem hopeless. If you need help, call the AMT Law Firm and ask for Lydia Politoti, Esq.

Lydia’s specialties are the dealings and bindings of the secret world hidden behind the veil of normality. She is known for her keen legal instinct and her encyclopedic knowledge of how promises and binding words serve as a powerful currency—and a vital deterrent—against creatures whose power might rend mortals and reality itself.

She will mediate a truce, secure protection, or negotiate a promise of safe passage, binding all parties to the arrangement regardless of the imbalance of power between them. She can be patient, even forgiving, with an inexperienced mortal who has stumbled into a reality they were not ready to face. However, she makes certain that any shadow power that violates the Horkos-clause of a contract faces the significant influence and wrath of the AMT Law Firm.

Lydia was beautiful in her youth, but today she wears far too much makeup. The combination of excessive cosmetic work, obvious hair extensions, an outdated pantsuit, gaudy jewelry, a counterfeit handbag, chain-smoking, and a strange gait in high heels gives her a comical air. This appearance doesn’t quite fit her deep, commanding voice and unbreakable self-assurance.

She always meets clients in a bar or restaurant; the law firm’s actual location is never clear. Clients can find her in many cities across the world, but when asked to take a break and stay a while, she always declines, because she has far to go.

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

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